May Housing Starts Drop, Permits Rise

Multifamily construction dropped, but single-family starts rose

Data released this morning by the Commerce Department show that housing starts in May fell 4.8% to a seasonally adjusted pace of 708,000 units. That fell short of estimates from economists, who had predicted of a pace of 720,000 units, Reuters noted.

However, housing starts for April were revised upward from a pace of 717,000 units to 744,000 units, marking the best housing start pace since October 2008.